Sales Incentives Programs: How do you get your sales team fired up?!
Sales incentives succeed when they cater to:
- A rep’s individual strengths and weaknesses
- A sales team’s collaboration
- A deal’s unique characteristics
But how do you decide which sales incentive to apply to your business?
Research shows that across the board, the happiest employees are the ones who feel appreciated, valued and heard. In fact, 58% of people say that they would feel more engaged if leaders gave recognition to the job they were doing.
Graceanne Domino, Manager, Sales Development at Rocketrip believes that the key to incentivizing her team is with role-specific incentives.
“I’ve had the most success with a tiered structure plus an all-out winner,” she continues. “This is effective because it solves for the fact that every team likely has top performers who will take an early lead; which is amazing, but can sometimes lead the rest of the team to be disengaged if it’s a winner-take-all scheme.”
However other incentives may work better for your business.
For instance, a split incentive program can encourage reps to collaborate and work together. But in a situation where a deal turns into a long-scale pursuit, presales incentives can help keep your reps on the ball.
While the most traditional way of rewarding a sales rep is with a cash commission structure, non-cash rewards are gaining traction in a big way. In the 1990s, approximately 25% of US companies were using non-cash rewards compared to 80% in 2018.
What sales incentives do you find most effective for galvanizing your team, and what pros and cons have you experienced with cash or non-cash rewards?
